Rumson Country Club head pro Brian Gaffney will be competing in this week’s PGA Championship, golf’s fourth Major. The event is being held at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C., from Aug. 9-12. This will be Gaffney’s third PGA appearance. MONTANA PRICHARD/THE PGA OF AMERICA, PHOTO Monmouth Beach’s Brian Gaffney is golf’s everyman. Not that everyone is the head pro at the Rumson Country Club. But like anyone who has ever teed it up, playing in one of golf’s Major championships is both a dream and a goal.
From Aug. 9-12, the 41-year-old club pro will be playing in the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C. This is the third time since 2000 that he has qualified for the PGA.
Unlike most of the PGA tour veterans he will be competing against this week, the tour is not his full-time job. Gaffney has had to overcome obstacles that are foreign to them.
He made it to the PGA the hard way by juggling family and work obligations around practice time. He gets to the Rumson Country Club at 5:30 a.m. to get in some practice time before starting work at 8 a.m.
“It’s been challenging,” he said.
The challenge has been made easier, according to Gaffney, because he has the full support of his wife, Allison, who has made sacrifices that have allowed him to focus on his golf game.
The Westfield native, who was an All- American at Montclair State College, also had to tread his way through the difficult qualifying tournaments just to get to the PGA.
“The opportunity is pretty limited,” Gaffney said. “You have one shot to get to the next level.”
For Gaffney, that one shot began with the New Jersey PGA Championship. He needed to place in the top seven in a field of 110 golfers. He placed third and advanced to the PGA Professional National Championship at Bayonet Black Horse in Seaside, Calif. There were 316 golfers at the nationals and Gaffney finished in the top 20 to secure his third appearance at the PGA.
“It’s very exciting,” he said of playing in a Major. “It’s an opportunity to compete at the highest level. This (PGA) was the goal. The atmosphere is different than at any other level.”
It’s been quite a year already for the Rumson Country Club pro. The PGA will be his fourth appearance at a Major Championship event. In addition to being in the PGA three times, he made his debut in June at the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he enjoyed fame for a very brief time. He was 1-under par through five holes and even par through seven. His name appeared on the leaderboard in the first round.
Should Gaffney’s name appear on the leaderboard at the PGA Championship, he will be better prepared to handle it. He knows what went wrong at the Open.
“I started to play conservatively,” he said, adding that he strayed away from playing his game and became more concerned about the score.
Playing an Open course was quite an experience, even for someone who has played all over the country.
“It’s unlike anything we (club pros) do,” Gaffney said. “The greens are fast and firm. You have to be so precise. You have a very thin margin of error.” The Open was also good preparation for the PGA.
With this being his fourth trip to a golf Major, the Gaffney is far more relaxed this time around. He feels right at home being around the best golfers in the world.
“I’m more comfortable in my own skin in that environment,” he said.
Although he has to do a balancing act between family, work and golf, the results this year have shown that he is doing something right.
“It’s nice to see the hard work paying off,” he said.
Gaffney’s hard work doesn’t begin and end on the golf course. Following the lead of Hall of Famer Gary Player, he does a rigorous fitness routine in the gym that has translated to better play. Gaffney sees his appearance in two Majors this year as validation of his talent and his preparation. He was also the 2011 New Jersey PGA Player of the Year. Now Gaffney is ready to play his best.
“I’ve worked hard at it,” he said. “I feel like I’m ready. I’m hitting the ball well.”
At the Open, Gaffney said he played better than his score. It was his putting that let him down there. He has spent plenty of time on the greens working on it.
Gaffney’s goal this week is to make it through to the weekend. He hasn’t made the cut at a Major yet, but there’s no time like the present for him to do it. Having played in the U.S. Open just seven weeks ago, he’s certainly more prepared then ever.